Hilaire Belloc

The Frog Poem by Hilaire Belloc

Be kind and tender to the Frog,And do not call him names,As 'Slimy skin,' or 'Polly-wog,'Or likewise 'Ugly James,'Or 'Gap-a-grin,' or 'Toad-gone-wrong,'Or 'Bill Bandy-knees':The Frog is justly sensitiveTo epithets like these.

No animal will more repayA treatment kind and fair;At least so lonely people sayWho keep a frog (and, by the way,They are extremely rare).

An alluring poem for children, drawing them in with a tale of the fabled frog. The immediate catch line ‘Be kind and tender to the Frog, ’ and instructing children not to call the frog names, then teaching six names to call the frog, is delightfully exciting for children. Yet as the French are often referred to by the English as the frog, and the French are passionate and take offense at the nickname, a more serious meaning is implied. The truth is, as mothers’ teach their children not to call others names, the poem is an adult reminder, not to call others insulting names; implied in an elevated entertaining, child’s rhyme is witty and wonderfully done.
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Straight with so much care on the frog...but The dictionary gives one more meaning to the word frog as 'a decorative loop of braid or cord '...somebody else might find some different meaning too as I guess...nice to read
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Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
And the tedding and the bedding
Of the straw for a bedding,
And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,
And the wine that tasted of tar?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
(Under the vine of the dark veranda) ?
Do you remember an Inn, Miranda,
Do you remember an Inn?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
Who hadn't got a penny,
And who weren't paying any,
And the hammer at the doors and the din?
And the hip! hop! hap!
Of the clap
Of the hands to the swirl and the twirl
Of the girl gone chancing,
Glancing,
Dancing,
Backing and advancing,
Snapping of the clapper to the spin
Out and in-
And the ting, tong, tang of the guitar!
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?

Never more;
Miranda,
Never more.
Only the high peaks hoar;
And Aragon a torrent at the door.
No sound
In the walls of the halls where falls
The tread
Of the feet of the dead to the ground,
No sound:
But the boom
Of the far waterfall like doom.

Hilaire Belloc is one of my most favourite poets. I loved The Frog, but it is not, in my opinion, one of his better poems. I am trying to find 'Tarantilla' by Hilaire Belloc, which he wrote when in the Pyranees. It is a wonderful example of onomatopoeia. Has anyone a copy of this they could send to me?
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